Posts Tagged ‘science’

A great white shark was spotted yesterday off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard by a group of fishermen, officials said.

The shark, which was confirmed as a great white by a state specialist, was circling the carcass of a minke whale off Aquinnah on the western tip of the island, said Reginald Zimmerman, a spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Jeff Lynch of Chilmark, a commercial fisherman who sails out of Menemsha, said he was going mackerel fishing yesterday morning with two friends when they spotted the dead whale and then saw the great white swimming underneath it.

“The funny thing is I was going mackerel fishing to get shark bait,” he said.

Lynch said he motored out of Menemsha at about 6 a.m. and spotted the whale carcass and shark at 7 a.m., about 1 to 1 1/2 miles west of Aquinnah. He said they drifted near the site and observed the shark until 7:30 or 7:45 a.m.

“It was kind of following me around,” said Lynch. He said it came within 2 feet of his boat.

“I had a few `Jaws’ quotes going through my head,” he said. “I go shark fishing all the time. But to see something that size was absolutely incredible.”

He estimated the animal was 20 feet long and weighed 2,000 pounds.

Lynch said he took pictures of the shark and e-mailed them to shark specialist Greg Skomal, a biologist with the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries, who wanted to tag the large specimen but was not able to reach the site in time.

Will Farrissey of Oak Bluffs was on the boat with Lynch and said the shark was the largest he has seen.